PARIS – French President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right bloc suffered a comprehensive defeat in Sunday's local elections, but managed to cling on to power in one mainland region to avoid a whitewash, exit polls said.The Socialist party and its allies won some 54 percent of the vote at a national level, to give the left control of at least 20 of the 22 regions up for grabs on the mainland,
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan – A U.S drone aircraft fired two missiles into an al Qaeda and Taliban hideout in northwest Pakistan on the Afghan border on Sunday, killing eight militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.The identity of the militants killed in the Lowari Mandi area of the North Waziristan tribal region was not known.The United States has stepped up attempts to kill leading mil
PARIS – French voters, many of them frustrated with President Nicolas Sarkozy and angry over economic troubles, cast ballots Sunday in regional elections expected to firmly favor the opposition left — and to set the stage for the 2012 presidential race.Discouraged by Sarkozy's handling of the stumbling economy, voters preferred the Socialists and like-minded parties in the first round
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has used a televised Iranian New Year address to accuse the US of plotting against the country.He said the US government could not talk about peace and friendship and at the same time plot and plan sedition .His words come a day after President Barack Obama sent a new year video message to Iranians saying Washington's offer of dialogue still stood.How
BEIJING Minister Chen Deming also said what he termed was the U.S government's obsession with China's exchange rate could not be seriously addressed until the U.S government stopped blocking the export of high-tech products, such as supercomputers and satellites, to China. If some congressman insist on labeling China as a currency manipulator and slap punitive tariffs on Chinese products, the
DHAKA – England were on the back foot in the second and final Test against Bangladesh on Sunday despite an unbeaten 64 from makeshift opener Jonathan Trott.Trott hit seven fours in his second Test half-century as England reached 171-3 in their first innings at stumps on the second day in reply to Bangladesh's third-highest Test total of 419.The tourists were 107-3 after losing skipper Alas
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – One restored a Haitian president to power; the other flew him back out again.Former U.S presidents Bill Clinton and George W.Bush are visiting Haiti on Monday, reminding the country of its tumultuous recent past just as frustration over an uneven earthquake relief effort is bringing politics back to the surface.The ex-presidents are spearheading U.S fundraising in
CAIRO – International donors at a conference in Cairo on Sunday pledged 850 million dollars for the reconstruction of war-ravaged Darfur, way short of the two billion dollars organisers had been expecting.Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told the closing session that 746 million had been raised for the western Sudanese region, but more donations came after the end to bump the fig
online 39